The Fall and Rise of Market Power in Europe

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents an analysis of the recent developments of average market power in Europe by using a broad firm-level database for EU member states. To indicate competitive pressure at the firm-level, markups are estimated following De Loecker, J. (2011). Recovering markups from production data. Int. J. Ind. Organ. 29: 350–355, and De Loecker, J. and Warzynski, F. (2012). Markups and firm-level export status. Am. Econ. Rev. 102: 2437–2471. The analysis reveals a sharp drop in markups during the crisis, followed by a post-crisis increase. The European average has not yet reached its pre-crisis level, which is in contrast to results for the US, where average markups have climbed to pre-crisis levels already in 2011. There is significant heterogeneity among European economies and the pre-crisis levels do have been exceeded in some countries.